The school year has barely started, yet you’ve already hit the books. What a brown noser! Except you aren’t taking on extra credit to impress a prof. You’re researching back-to-school supplies, so you know exactly what you need to succeed for the year ahead.
Your task isn’t easy. It tests your ability to research and budget. It also tests your patience. Everyone and your mother have told you about the need for a laptop, tablet, pen, and paper.
Thanks a lot, guys, as if these were items were the first to grace your list. It’s obvious you need these essential educational tools if you expect to access course material, write essays, and take notes.
What you need help with is the obscure supplies that you only realize you need mid-way through the semester. That’s what we’re here to help you with, so keep reading to learn about the less obvious though no less important school supplies.
3-Ringed HolePunch
Profs and course educators love to give out handouts, but you’re always losing these sheets because they don’t slot into your 3-ringed binder easily. Rather than shoving them between pieces of lined paper and hoping for the best, invest in a 3-ringedhole punch. It will keep your notes organized, and you’ll never forget it as it nestled into the binder’s rings.
Drying Rack
Back to campus means back to washing your own clothes again. When you can’t use mom and dad’s appliances, you’re forced to visit the campus laundromat’s—for a price. While you can extend any item of clothing’s life by wearing it a few times before it hits the bin, eventually you’ll have to wash them. Keep costs low by investing in a drying rack. You can hang your clothes to dry and avoid paying for the dryer.
Keep to those that fold-up flat, so you aren’t stuck with something that eats up the space in your very small dorm room.
Leanne Brown’s Good and Cheap
Between tuition, books, and even laundry, there isn’t a lot of money to go around when you need to shop for groceries. While some of your friends accept they’ll be eating Ramen and peanut butter sandwiches until next summer, you don’t have to limit your options. Leanne Brown wrote Good and Cheap, a cookbook that helps you eat healthfully on just $4 a day.
With Brown’s help, you can be the envy of your floor and eat well with meals like savory summer cobbler and cornmeal-crusted green beans. Best of all, Good and Cheap lives up to its name. Not only will you have a huge resource of recipes, but its PDF is free to download.
A PlayStation 4
Don’t forget how important relaxation is in between midterms. While it’s important you keep track of your course work, it’s just as necessary to invest in downtime. Don’t feel guilty. You definitely won’t be the only one to be hitting the latest GTA V mods harder than the books in your dorm.
You won’t have any difficulty finding some new friends to play the latest release with, but you may encounter some trouble as more and more people handle your controllers each day. Before you pack up your PS4, be sure to head to dbrand’s website to stock up on grime-resistant PS4 skins. When you order a PS4 skin online, you have a choice of exclusive colors and textures that aren’t available anywhere, so you’ll have a unique console in addition to a fully protected PS4.
An Alarm Clock
We know this item may seem outdated when you use your phone as an alarm clock, timer, stopwatch, and every other kind of time keeper. But there’s method to the madness. Remember those 8am classes you enrolled in? You’ll end up missing half of them if you rely solely on your phone’s alarm clock to wake you up. With a simple swipe of your thumb you’ll snooze until it’s too late.
Think of a separate alarm clock as back up in case you give in to your fatigue. With it plugged into the wall opposite of your bed, you’ll have to get out of the warm sheets to turn it off. Once you’re on your feet, you’re more likely to stay on them and walk to class.
When compared to a laptop or pen, these items may seem a little frivolous, but trust us. Each item on this list has its purpose, and you’ll thank yourself you took the time to pack these unconventional supplies.
